Myspace or invasion of space?

This week marks the start of a Los Angeles trial, where Lori Drew,49, stands before the court accused of cyber-bullying. She is being charged with failure to uphold the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Her active participation may, or maynot, have led to the suicide of a 13 year old girl, in Missouri. See National Post for full details of the story: http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=974494

This is a particular sad incident that occured, and it has brought cyber-bullying to the fore front of concern for the crimial courts. However, there is an underlined, secondary conern at hand here. I was curious to know Myspace's comments on this case, or if it has made any changes to its security.

I once to was a Myspace user, but have since then deleted my account because of the unnecessary dramatics that were occuring. I do have a facebook account, but i only use it to stay in touch with my closest friends and to communicate with my classmates. I find it alot more user friendly, and protective of my privacy.

Upon arriving at the Myspace site, I really had to search for their safety and security section. It was a little covert to find, but there was a small section at the bottom were the terms and agreements were. It was through there that i discovered a plethera of safety tips and resources. I was pleasantly surprised at all they offered.

Then I started reading, and for the majority of the content, the tips they offered were informative and comforting. If someone has encoutered harrassment on Myspace they are encouraged to report it. I was truly impressed. until i discovered this:

"Someone on MySpace is bugging/harrassing/threatening me - what can I do about it? The best thing to do if and when you encounter such a situation is simply ignore them... 99.9% of the time they will soon leave you alone. Remember, you can always remove the person from your Friend List (they will then no longer be able to add Comments to your Profile page), delete any Comments they leave on your Profile page, and you can even delete any messages they send you via the MySpace Mail system without opening them. By NOT responding to offending user (i.e., NOT giving them any attention, NOT letting them get a "rise" out of you), most people will simply go away. " (http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.faq&Category=6&Question=6)

This was found under their FAQ section. To me this completly contradicted the first sections I was reading. Before I was being told to come forward if I was being bullied, yet now I am being told to ignore it. Unfortunately, bullying doesnt just go away. Many bullies enjoy when someone ignores them. It becomes a challenge and they will persue it further and harder than ever before. Clicking a "blocking" tool doesnt just make the problem cease. In most cases for young teens, when the harassment has already occured, the damage is done. The teen has already been hurt and there's little to make that teen less vulnerable. Most times, the person that is performing the harassment is someone who the victim knows, like a peer. It doesn's just go away.

Myspace needs to ensure their messages are consistant. A person with concerns stands a 50/50 chance of only reading one of the two sections. Make sure the key messages are reaching the intended audience and repeated to them throughout the website.

Again, it is, in my opinion, that this situation was completely rediculous. It should never have happened. Most people would put the blame on the parents, but where is the fine line? Unfortunately, parents can't be there 24/7; they can do their best as parents to prevent this from happening, but in all reality, they can't be on the school yards, or know what their child is thinking. Some companies need to realize they hold a certain amount of social responsibility. Their actions can make a big impact, unfortunatly in this case their actions cost a life.